Ascension Island/English Bay Road

The road to English Bay is a very important road on Ascension. Not only does it provide access to the BBC Atlantic Relay Station, an important source of revenue and employment for residents and transient workers, it also leads to the best swimming beaches on the island! Whilst commonly known as the English Bay Road for it's entire length, the route actually TOTSOs about halfway along, with prioirty given to Pyramid Point Road, leading to Comfortless Cove.

Pyramid Point Road

A joke sign on a typical stretch of the English Bay Road

Starting at a T junction at One Boat, the road heads north, undulating a little as it twists and turns. Whilst a good, fast road in principle, some of the bends are a little too sharp, making the 40 limit a necessity. After passing One Boat Gold Club (reputedly the worst in the world), the scenery gives way to volcanic lava flows of jagged rocks, making off road progress look impossible. Beyond the lava, hills of various shapes and colours rise up creating a truly awesome view. After about a mile, we reach the junction, where English Bay is signed off to the right, whilst the road to Pyramid Point continues straight ahead. Just before it, another road leads to a military installation off to the left.

After a couple of kinks, the road settles down to a long straight, with the destination clear for all to see. It is a golf-ball radar station on the coast, with some ominous signage, but nothing to restrict access. The road to Comfortless Cove forks off to the right just before the complex, and is the only dirt road on the island that hire cars are allowed to use. Comfortless Cove is a small beach suitable for swimming, which was once a yellow fever quarantine station on the island. The old road to Georgetown can still be followed through the scrub to Long Beach, passing through the small cemetery immediately behind the beach along the way.

English Bay

The road to English Bay is slightly longer than the Pyramid Point Road, and is dominated for most of it's length by two prominent features. The first is the natural insanity of the landscape, being an entire lava flow only partially sanitised by smoother sandy deposits, which the road makes use of where possible. The other is the completely man-made network of transmitter aerials soaring overhead. a number of signs warn of the danger of RF, diminishing any desire to get out and explore the landscape between the aerials.

The very end of the English Bay Road

After a mile or so, the buildings of the relay station come into view, and the road has to TOTSO once more to reach the beach. But, this is perhaps the best beach on the island. Easily accessible and sheltered enough for relatively safe swimming, the beach is also large enough for several groups at once, even if the parking is somewhat limited. The road continues, however, terminating at two separate cliff top points, one used by the islands diving club, the other serving what looks like a very dangerous natural rock cut dock amongst the lava flows.